WHO ARE WE

Imperialism has increased the oppression of peoples all over the world, especially after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. While imperialism uses domestic collaborators, and the capitalists who hold international capital increase their wealth from day to day, the peoples are almost crushed by hunger, poverty and massacres. The documents published by the United Nations clearly show that imperialism is responsible for the hunger and poverty of the people. According to these reports, more than 25,000 people die every day from hunger, of whom over 17,000 are children. Every year, 18 million people die directly from hunger, and 70 million from causes related to it. Only $ 50 billion is needed to get rid of this hunger! I mean, it’s not even like the annual profit of one of the world’s monopolies! The amount needed to completely remove hunger from the earth is 50 billion dollars, but there is 596 billion dollars in military expenditure for the year 2015 by American imperialism alone. Today, US imperialism alone has 10,000 nuclear weapons according to official figures and these weapons alone are enough to destroy the world many times over.

That is, the cause of the hunger of the peoples is the existence of the monopolies. Imperialism is ARMED from head to toe to protect the existence of the monopolies.

Imperialist aggression today is manifested in different forms in every continent and country. However, the only force behind every attack is imperialism. In the Middle East, American imperialism is actively involved in sowing division, using differences among peoples and its indigenous collaborators to bring about war. It continues its embargoes on Cuba and uses narcotics in Latin America, putting ideological pressure on fighting revolutionaries. In Europe, it takes away the rights of agricultural countries such as Greece and Bulgaria under the name of the EU, weighing them down with debt. It continues its existence by crushing all the values, inciting starvation, poverty and tribal wars in Africa and trampling underfoot the values created by socialism in Asia. In short, imperialism has a policy to make the peoples of every region ideologically, economically and militarily incapable of resistance.

But imperialism is the only source of today’s power, the disorganisation of the peoples and despair. Today there is no socialist bloc standing against imperialism, but the power to create one is always in the hands of oppressed peoples. The First and Second Imperialist Wars clearly show the weakness of imperialism versus socialism. Following the First Imperialist War, Tsarism was destroyed in Russia and the Socialist Soviet Union whose 100th anniversary we saluted was established. Those who created resistance epics in the Second Imperialist War and who resisted fascism have always been socialists. At the end of this war, a third of the world united under the banner of socialism and stopped the aggression of imperialism.

Almost all of them are allied with the imperialist countries today, claiming to “provide world peace” as a result of the 2nd Imperialist War, because today there is not even a single country in these associations that stands for the people. All of the United Nations, NATO, the European Union, the IMF and CENTO have set up dozens of organisations to ensure their political, economic and military security against the threat of socialism. And despite the disintegration of the Soviet Union, these organisations still see the peoples of the world as threats and continue their oppression against the peoples.

The most basic units established by the socialists began with the First International in 1864, when Marx and Engels pioneered the initiative and raised the flag of the Paris Commune. In the Second International, the struggle of the international working class for socialism has been further organised within the world working class, with reformist politics being finally dispersed. The Third International became an important force in the spreading of socialism throughout the world, and imperialism and fascism in the Second Battle of War struck a major blow. The Third International has created crucial traditions in the struggle of the oppressed peoples in the world, the solidarity of the world socialists in the Spanish Civil War and the judgments of Dimitrov against German fascism are important examples of the military and political power of the world working class. The liberation struggle of the Vietnamese and Cuban peoples have politically squeezed colonialism into the corner and become an important foundation for the resistance. However, unity among the socialist countries which began to deviate as a result of Soviet revisionism lost its function and both the poor and the socialist countries have been isolated in the face of imperialist ideological, economic and military attacks. Although attempts have been made to establish various forms of unity that result in different approaches and needs, none have succeeded and today there is no internationalism that can guide resistance in spite of the fact that imperialist aggression has gone much further than before. The world has lost its compass to lead the working class in overcoming the bourgeoisie.

Today, imperialism is not only against socialists, but also wants to remove bourgeois states which oppose it in the Middle East. The peoples living in the Middle East are in constant struggle in Palestine, Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, Kurdish, Arab, Sunni, Alevis, Shia etc… in support of imperialist oil interests, they are divided into dozens of pieces! Those living in Iraq and Libya show the most concrete result of imperialism’s Middle East politics. Countries that completely lost their independence and were torn apart, peoples were made enemies of one another. Finally, the same policies have been applied in Syria, but the war that has been taking place in Syria for 6 years is the clearest indication of the weakness of imperialism when it meets resistance. IS was first armed by the imperialists to destroy the Assad government. As the rebels began to lose control, imperialism armed the Kurdish organisations in the region in their turn, and they have established seven of their bases on the territory of Syria. More than 400,000 people have died in this war and the country’s population of 22 million has fallen to half as a result of migration.

The people living in Syria have also shown that imperialism today wants to break down socialists, even the petit bourgeois governments that do not conform to their own interests, and make them into their own neo-colonies. Today, imperialism partitions the peoples of the world into the smallest divisions, bringing them into conflict with each other and gaining power from this. The only way to stand against imperialism is to unite against imperialism, the task of revolutionary, patriotic democrats.

Because today, imperialism is launching a very organised, military, economic and political attack against the peoples of every continent. And so the peoples of the world have to unite and fight against imperialism more than ever. Because imperialism has not changed from day to day, exploitation is growing ever more savage. On the side of the socialists and the peoples, the organisations fighting for socialism have skidded ideologically to the point of turning over all arms to imperialists under the name of “peace” under UN supervision, and the popular organisations fighting for their own people have become ground troops of imperialism. Today, the peoples of the world are ideologically and organisationally vulnerable to imperialism.

The Anti-Imperialist Front against imperialism is a union of revolutionary, socialist, anarchist, democratic… organisations that are struggling in different countries of the world. Our goal is to be a barricade in front of imperialism by unifying all the people’s forces against imperialism around certain principles.

The main reason we want to reach you is that our goal is to spread revolutionary responsibility and hope that we have in the face of imperialism’s aggression all over the world. Imperialism is a “paper tiger” as Mao said. But the only power that can overthrow this tiger is the resistance of the people. In spite of all the contradictions for their interests, the imperialists easily combine to kill the peoples and publish terrorism lists to destroy the resistance. Revolutionary organisations are seated at the table to negotiate surrender, and the organisations that they cannot liquidate have bounties placed on the heads of their leaders. In other words, imperialism has intensified its ideological, economic and military attacks against the constant risk of people rebelling against their own exploitation. Drugs, corruption, hunger, occupation, and military strength provided to jihadist organisations… These are all the means that the imperialists use to make the people passive, disorganise them and destroy their hopes.

As we have mentioned above, the aggression of imperialism clearly demonstrates the need for unity in resistance by our revolutionary, democratic and patriotic people against imperialism. We are writing to introduce to you the Anti-Imperialist Front with the responsibility that this task imposes.

What is the Anti-Imperialist Front?

The Anti-Imperialist Front is the union declared against imperialist aggression in 2014 with the decision taken by the organisations that came together in the Eyup Bas Symposium for Unity of the Peoples Against Imperialist Aggression, held every year in Turkey since 2009.

The Anti-Imperialist Front (AIF – Turkish initials AEC) is a position within which representatives of different struggle traditions and organisations come shoulder to shoulder against imperialism despite all the ideological and cultural differences. Since 2009, the AIF has become a union with the resolutions of the symposiums attended by representatives from 46 countries which evaluates its agenda, the sharing of resistance and resistance experiences.

The institutionalisation of the AIF and the sense of unity among the organisations have mostly come to life through solidarity visits to the people who have been targeted by murderous fascist attacks and imperialist intervention. Within the AIF framework, peoples and resisters who were targeted by massacre in Syria, Lebanon and Northern Kurdistan (Diyarbakir region) in 2016 were visited. It also took part in the May 1 celebrations in Ukraine as well as the May 6th celebrations where the people living in the anti-fascist region of Ukraine commemorated the defeat of fascism. In addition, the court cases of Nuriye Gulmen and Semih Ozakca, who became symbols of resistance against fascism in Turkey, are being followed by international delegations. The AIF in Turkey exhibited the most beautiful examples of international solidarity by organising solidarity visits opposing the aggression of the fascists, especially against the most intense attacks and arrests directed against revolutionary institutions.

Halk Cephesi – People’s Front

The Anti-Imperialist Front is a union established under the leadership of the People’s Front, the central organisation of the revolutionaries who continued the struggle for socialism against imperialism and fascism in Turkey in a democratic context.

The People’s Front is the central organisation in the democratic sphere, maintaining the tradition of a 47-year revolutionary struggle. It is the continuation of the People’s Liberation Party of Turkey (THKP), which started armed struggle in Turkey in the 1970s. Devrimci Sol and its successor the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front which spread the struggle of socialism to all people with the ideology of the THKP-C, which brought out the revolutionary struggle and made fascism pay a price after the martyrdom of Mahir Cayan and all the leading figures in Kizildere and established a line drawing the working class of Turkey away from the swamp of revisionism and reformism. The entire democratic space that maintains its ideological unity with the Party-Front has People’s Front as the general name for our structures.

The People’s Front is the creator of the cornerstones in the 47-year history of Turkey’s revolutionary struggle. The People’s Front has a history of demanding a reckoning from fascism with the resistance it creates in every area.

Those who resisted the junta of September 12, 1980 in the prisons by rejecting attempts to impose single-type clothing (ie. prison uniforms), those who resisted the single-type clothing also fought under the flag of socialism against the ideological attacks in the 1990s which claimed that socialism is over everywhere in the world. The People’s Front has a tradition that never compromises with its enemies, neither with its warriors, nor do its resisters compromise with any imposition of fascism.

Our history is full of examples of ideological struggle on every front. Grup Yorum in the field of music, the People’s Law Bureau in the legal sphere, the continuous issue of revolutionary publications for 31 years (Yuruyus magazine), factory occupations, people’s parliaments, international symposiums and production by the People’s Engineers and Architects. We have organised socialist life in all the areas we have created and are conscious of demanding a reckoning from fascism and exposing it.

One of the most important fronts of our struggle is the front of the revolutionary prisoners. After the coup d’état of September 12, 1980, in the conditions in which thousands of revolutionaries were in captivity, we created the tradition of Free Prisoners with epic resistance. An attempt to impose prison uniforms in 1984 triggered a Death Fast which ended victoriously after the martyrdom of four revolutionaries. In 1996, once again, the isolation in the prisons was prevented by death Fasts. In this resistance, 12 revolutionary martyrs fell and fascism ceased its attempt to impose isolation. However, the isolation attack under the name of harmonisation with the European Union came back in the 2000s. Once the second offensive was put into practice, the price demanded increased. In this process, the Death Fasts resumed. The Death Fast resistance, which began on October 20, 2000, grew even further after the massacre on December 19, 2000, when the actual transition to F-Type prisons began. This resistance to isolation by revolutionary prisoners continued for seven years and was victorious after 122 martyrs. The fascist state issued a circular declaring that it had taken an important step back and accepted 10 hours of conversation between prisoners.

Since September 12th, Free Prisoners in prisons and outside, the organisation of their families, have created epic resistance against the fascist massacres and all their attacks.

The People’s Front, which we have tried to briefly describe, is the name of a tradition that does not step back in the face of the ideological and cultural attacks of imperialism. Today, the People’s Front is the hope for the peoples of the world. The academician Nuriye Gulmen and the teacher Semih Ozakca pioneered indefinite hunger strike resistance. Nuriye Gulmen and Semih Ozakca were only two of the 150,000 teachers who were fired as a result of the KHK, which has been in force in Turkey for over a year. While 150,000 teachers were fired by the KHK overnight following the 15 July coup attempt and terrorist charges, what distinguishes these two from 150,000 is their adherence ot the People’s Front and their determination to continue the hunger strike resistance to the end.

We are a movement of the peoples of Turkey that is the vanguard of resistance to fascism and prepared to face up to the cost. World revolutions and revolutionary struggles have shown us the way through victories and defeats, our resistance has been a hope to the peoples from different parts of the world. We want to establish links with you and your struggle with confidence that we will contribute in our country to the struggle all the world’s working class against imperialism. Today, the only way for the peoples of the world to resist imperialist aggression is to unite.

We invite you to the Front which we created against imperialism…

Today the most basic need of the people is to ORGANISE AND FIGHT AGAINST IMPERIALISM!

NOT GREAT WEAPONS, TONNES OF EXPLOSIVES, NOT PROFESSIONAL SOLDIERS BUT WITH ROCKS AND MOLOTOVS IN THEIR HANDS… WE WILL FIGHT WITH OUR OWN STRENGTH TO BRING THE PEOPLES TO VICTORY…